The Unique Way the United States (dis)Unites its Citizens through their Differences

Reservations, Internment Relocation Centers and Ghettos are America’s Concentration Camps… Welcome to the United States; Land of the (not so) Free

Wounded Knee So. Dakota Dec. 29, 1890

Dec. 29, 2015 marks the 125th Anniversary of the murder of 297 Sioux Indians at Wounded Knee Creek on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South. Dakota on December 29, 1890. These 297 PEOPLE, in their winter camp were murdered by Federal Agents and members of the 7th Cavalry who had come to confiscate their firearms” for “their own safety and protection”. The slaughter began AFTER the majority of Sioux had peacefully surrendered their firearms.

Wounded Knee Dec. 29, 1890

South Dakota Jan. 10, 1891

Decomposing bodies of Yaqui Indians

Gordon, or Whipped Peter, was a slave on a Louisiana plantation who escaped from slavery in 1863. He would go on to serve as a soldier in the United States Colored Troops. Harper’s Weekly published photos of Gordon’s scarred back, the result of his time in slavery. The photos helped make slavery more real for those living in the North and accelerated the Union cause in the war.

African-Americans made up less than 1 percent of the North’s population but were 10 percent of the Union Army. Black men weren’t allowed to join the army until 1863. About 180,000 Black men, more than 85 percent of eligible African-Americans in the Northern states, fought. While White soldiers earned $13 a month, Black soldiers earned only $10 — and then were charged a $3 clothing fee that lowered their monthly pay to $7. The highest paid Black soldier made less than the lowest paid White one. After protesting by refusing to accept their wages and gaining support from abolitionist Congressmen, Black soldiers finally received equal pay in 1864 — paid retroactively to their enlistment date.

Washington was accused of raping and murdering Lucy Fryer, the wife of his white employer in rural Robinson TX . Washington a mildly mentally challenged was tried for murder in Waco, in a courtroom filled with furious locals. The trial lasted about one hour and after four minutes of deliberation, the jury’s foreman announced a guilty verdict and a sentence of death. After his sentence was pronounced, he was dragged out of the court by observers, they put a chain on his neck and lynched him in front of Waco’s city hall. Over 16,000 spectators, including city officials and police, gathered to watch the attack. There was a celebratory atmosphere at the event, and many children attended during their lunch hour. Members of the mob castrated Washington, cut off his fingers so he couldn’t climb the chain, and hung him over a bonfire. He was repeatedly lowered and raised over the fire for about two hours. After the fire was extinguished, his charred torso was dragged through the town and parts of his body were sold as souvenirs. A professional photographer took pictures as the event unfolded, providing rare imagery of a lynching in progress. The pictures were printed and sold as postcards in Waco.

(photo above) July 19, 1935 Ruben Stacy 32 hangs from a tree in Ft. Lauderdale FL. Stacy was lynched by a mob of angry masked White men who seized him from the custody of sheriff’s deputies for allegedly attacking a white woman.

September 10, 1963 a white student had been photographed wearing a sign on his shirt that read “Keep West End White.” On either side of the word “Keep” appeared two Confederate flags

15-year-old Elizabeth Eckford attempts to attend classes at Little Rock Central High School as an angry mob followed her, yelling, “Drag her over this tree! Let’s take care of that nigger!'” and “Lynch her! Lynch her!” “No nigger bitch is going to get in our school!”

“Birmingham, ALA., Sept. 11, 1963 —CAR WINDOW SMASHED—One of two Negro girl students who desegregated West End High School in Birmingham sits in car and is partially framed by broken auto window. A rock was hurled through the window as the Negro girls were leaving the school area after class this afternoon. (APWirephoto) 1963”